Box Score POMONA, Calif. – The Pioneer women's basketball team made it six straight victories following a hard-fought 52-50 win over Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday night.
With the victory, the Pioneers avenge an earlier defeat to Cal Poly Pomona, and keep their hold on fourth place in the CCAA with a 10-7 record. East Bay improves to 12-9 for the season. Cal Poly Pomona drops its fourth straight game and stands at 9-8 in CCAA play and 11-10 overall.
“We did not play well on either end of the floor and that is credited to Pomona,” Pioneer Head Coach
Suzy Barcomb said. "It was a hard-fought win for our program and we buckled down late and held on. We got some solid defensive play from
Cassie Coble.”
For the fourth time this season, and second in the last four games,
Brianna Terrance led the Pioneers in scoring with 16 points. Terrance was 8 of 13 from the field and had three steals.
Micah Walker followed Terrance with 12 points, while
Sarah Finlay had 11.
Marlene MacMillan led the Pioneers on the boards for the 13th time this season with nine rebounds.
“Brianna played incredibly well in the second half and hit some key baskets for us,” Barcomb said. Sarah had a big three-ball late that gave us an emotional lift. Again three in double digits in scoring is what we need to continue to do.”
Mian Dingle scored 16 points to lead the Broncos in scoring, while Ashley Boggs had 11.
With the scored tied 41-41 in the second half, the Pioneers responded with an 8-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 49-43 at the 2:54 mark. Terrance led the rally with three baskets while Walker added a pair of free throws. East Bay maintained a 51-45 advantage on two Finlay free throws with 1:20 left.
The Broncos made things interesting with baskets by Dingle and Lauren Goecke to trail 51-49 with 55 seconds remaining. Goecke converted a free throw and the Broncos forced a Pioneer turnover with 21 seconds left in the game. Dingle missed a layup, the Pioneers grabbed the rebound, and Walker made a free throw to give East Bay a 52-50 advantage.
Boggs missed a three-pointer with two seconds remaining, and the Pioneers held on for the hard-earned victory.
Cal Poly Pomona led 41-36 with 7:36 to go in the second half. East Bay tied the game on a Terrance basket and a three-pointer by
Rachel Finnegan.
Finlay hit a jumper to give the Pioneers a 6-2 lead with 15:33 left in the first half.
An 11-4 run the following six minutes enabled the Broncos to take a 13-10 advantage. The Pioneers tied the game with a 6-3 run with 4:48 left. Trailing 23-20, the Pioneers once again tied the contest on Walker's three-pointer with 3:04 remaining. Walker followed with another basket with to give the Pioneers a 25-24 lead.
The Broncos went on a 3-0 run to regain a 27-25 advantage.
Lauren Lucchesi made two free throws with 24 seconds left to tie the game at halftime.
East Bay will seek its seventh straight win on Saturday at Humboldt State. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
“We need to maintain our focus on the road,” Barcomb said. “We have to circle the wagons on the road.”
